Five Courses, One Goal:
Master Walking Bass,
Apply Your Knowledge,
Ignite Creativity
As jazz bassists, we spend most of our performance time creating walking bass lines. Let's work together to unlock the fundamental building blocks of thousands of jazz tunes to create authentically compelling and engaging bass lines.
Get Started →
126
Videos
170+
PDFs
201
Backing Tracks
8.5k+
Subscribers
You Understand the Basics, Now Take Your Ability Further
So often we get stuck. You've learned the basics of walking bass but you feel that you've reached a plateau and you're looking to perform with more command and ease. Focusing on the foundational forms of jazz will help you get there. We'll explore:
- The Major Blues
- The Minor Blues
- Standards
- Harmonic Cycles
- Rhythm Changes
By taking a deep dive into these crucial foundations of jazz tunes, we'll uncover countless ways to create strong and logical bass lines and take ownership of these great works.
Introducing
Jazz Bass 101: Walking Essential Tunes
This five-part course will give you powerful tools to master the harmonic structure that supports thousands of jazz songs. By utilizing transcriptions from master bassists like Ray Brown, Paul Chambers, Ron Carter, and many more, you'll unlock insights into creating walking bass lines that will inspire your own creativity and bass line performance.
Enroll NowWhat You'll Learn
Course One
The Major Blues
You've probably encountered the blues in many scenarios already, but how well can you truly say you understand the form? By exploring dominant harmony, blues form variations, and turnarounds you'll be able to, as Duke Ellington said in a song title, "Play the Blues and Go."
Ready? Let's Go →Major Blues Course Curriculum
Course Two
The Minor Blues
This variation of a blues form provides a perfect vehicle for examining more concepts that will help us build better walking lines. By studying minor chords, new kinds of turnarounds, diminished chords, and changing chord qualities, our command of line options will grow exponentially.
Ready? Let's Go →Minor Blues Course Curriculum
Course Three
Standard Progressions
So many of the great standard songs we encounter use recognizable and established harmonic patterns. Understanding segments like the I-vi-ii-V or iii-vi-ii-V will open up your bass line choices. Having fluency in these harmonic segments will allow you to learn and play standards much more quickly and effortlessly.
Ready? Let's Go →Standard Progressions Course Curriculum
Course Four
Harmonic Cycles
Cycles of chords are common compositional tools in the jazz song canon. Grasping concepts like cycles of fourths and tritone substitutions further deepens our ownership of these songs and informs how we create great walking lines.
Ready? Let's Go →Harmonic Cycles Course Curriculum
Course Five
Rhythm Changes
Written by the Gershwins in the 1930's, "I Got Rhythm" became the harmonic and structural basis for thousands more jazz tunes written over the past one hundred years. Exploring this form and its many variations allows us to encapsulate all our knowledge from previous topics, and extends our improvisational possibilities many times over.
Ready? Let's Go →Rhythm Changes Course Curriculum
About Me
Raised in Cleveland, Ohio, Matthew Rybicki has performed with Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, Ernie Watts, Laurence Hobgood, Hilary Kole, Wycliffe Gordon, Ted Rosenthal, Mark Gould, Nnenna Freelon, Renee Fleming, Terell Stafford, Winard Harper, Mark Whitfield, Victor Goines, and Marcus Printup.
He has also had the great fortune of performing at many well-respected venues in New York such as The Village Vanguard and The Blue Note, as well as concert halls and festivals in locations ranging from Italy to Qatar.
Matthew is a faculty member at The Juilliard School and a visiting artist at The University of North Carolina School of the Arts. He was an artist/instructor for Jazz at Lincoln Center where he developed and taught the inaugural bass course in the Essentially Ellington Band Director Academy. In addition, Matthew was a program coordinator for Midori and Friends and has led musical workshops at both The Whitney Museum of American Art and The Guggenheim, where he designed and presented educational performances that incorporate jazz with fine art.
Matthew has presented educational clinics in a wide variety of settings worldwide. Highlights include master-classes and clinics at the International Society of Bassists Annual Convention (Rochester, NY), Qatar Music Academy (Doha, Qatar), The Vitoria Jazz Festival (Vitoria, Spain), Georgia State University (Atlanta, GA), Snow College (Ephraim, UT), Centro Nacional de las Artes (Mexico City, Mexico), Spoleto Music Festival (Spoleto, Italy), and The National Jazz Museum in Harlem (New York, NY).
He has also authored books for Hal Leonard Publications including The Hal Leonard Jazz Bass Method, Ray Brown: Legendary Jazz Bassist, and the Goldmine Series for Bass.
Driven, Matthew’s debut recording released in 2009, introduced him to the jazz scene as a performer and composer of note. Recording with jazz greats Ron Blake, Freddie Hendrix, Gerald Clayton, and Ulysses Owens, Jr., he was able to capture innovative and sophisticated performances of newly created original works that maintain close ties to the history of jazz.
Matthew received his Bachelor of Music from Berklee College of Music in 1995 and graduate degree from The Juilliard School in 2004.
Learn More →
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“Matt has it all...”
“'Ive been playing double bass for a bit over 40 years. Done my conservatorium studies and I strongly and highly recommend people wanting to learn to play upright to pay very close attention to Matt and his lessons. I check out all tutorials and Matt is one of the most easy to follow. To teach is a special art form. Matt has it all.”
@TIMOBARA64
“Great stuff...”
“Yours are the best jazz-bass lessons I've seen anywhere. I would strongly recommend your lessons not just to bassists, but also to pianists and guitarists who want to add jazz bass lines to their solo performances. It's also essential to anyone who wants to write jazz arrangements. Even a beginner who can't read yet could learn by listening and watching. Great stuff.”
@mbmillermo
“One of the best...”
I must say, my double bass playing has definitely improved since I discovered your channel. You're one of the best to do it. Keep doing what you're doing."
@ bustabass9025
What's Included
On-Demand
Video Lessons
With multiple videos in each of four modules in each topic, you'll be able to view the lessons at your pace. With 4k resolution, closed captions, and accompanying downloads and partner images, you'll have ample opportunity to absorb the lessons.
Downloadable
In-Depth Resources
Hundreds of print-quality downloadable PDFs are specially designed for each topic, and include many full transcriptions from masters like Buster Williams, Ron Carter, Scott LaFaro, and Israel Crosby. You'll also be able to download all of the PDFs from Matt's YouTube channel.
Engaging
Bonus Material
Want to play along with Gerald Clayton, Ron Blake, Freddie Hendrix, and Ulysses Owens, Jr.? You can! I've extracted my bass parts from my debut CD so that you can use these masterful performances to work on concepts we've discussed. There are hundreds of other bespoke backing tracks for the course, as well as a free download of my CD, bonus transcriptions, and a surprise bonus for completing the course.
Trying to Decide?
This is for you if...
- you have prior experience playing jazz
- you are able to read conventional notation
- you have a basic understanding of jazz harmony
This is not for you if...
- you're looking for a course for a true novice
- you're interested in learning specifically about soloing
- you're interested in non-traditional roles for jazz bass
Need a Reason to Start?
Here are 3 Great Reasons
Reason One
There's goodies. Lots of goodies. Hundreds of PDFs and transcriptions. Hundreds of backing tracks. Cool bonus stuff too!
Reason Two
Armed with the information from the course, you can feel confident taking that rehearsal, that jam session place, and that gig!
Reason Three
I applied a rigorous structure to this course that allows for natural and logical progress, while challenging you with attainable tasks and goals. By the end of the course you'll be not only a stronger bassist, but a stronger musician.
Get Started
Grab Your Bass
We're About to Get Started
There's no better time than now to get yourself out of that "feeling stuck" place. Let's work together to get you prepared for the many gigs to come in your future!
Enroll Now
Let's Put You on the Path
to Making Great
Bass Lines!
Major Blues Course
$149
- 44 PDFs including 11 transcriptions
- Performances from Paul Chambers, Christian McBride, Scott LaFaro, & more
- 62 backing tracks
- 30 video lessons
- Special backing track with Ulysses Owens, Jr. and Gerald Clayton
Minor Blues Course
$149
- 34 PDFs including 7 transcriptions
- Performances from Sam Jones, Butch Warren, Percy Heath, and more
- 64 backing tracks
- 27 video lessons
Standards Course
$149
- 30 PDFs including 12 transcriptions
- Performances from Ray Brown, Israel Crosby, Sam Jones, and more
- 32 backing tracks
- 22 video lessons
Harmonic Cycles Course
$149
- 37 PDFs including 17 transcriptions
- Performances from Slam Stewart, Milt Hinton, Steve Davis, Ron Carter, Ray Brown, and ore
- 20 backing tracks
- 15 video lessons
-
Special backing track with Ulysses Owens, Jr., Freddie Hendrix, & Gerald Clayton
Rhythm Changes Course
$149
- 28 PDFs including 3 transcriptions
- Performances from Ray Brown, Paul Chambers, Leroy Vinnegar, and Percy Heath
- 48 backing tracks
- 21 video lessons
- Special backing track with Ulysses Owens, Jr., Ron Blake, and Gerald Clayton
“Thanks so much…”
“...blew me away. love the way that you play, how generous you are in explaining things, how much you love the bass, and how much you want to improve others playing. Thanks so much!"
@jameswasil8961
“Just WOW...”
“Absolutely brilliant and stunning lesson, Matt! I did learn a lot! Thank you so much for just giving away all those things. Your channel is one of the best educational channels you can find on YouTube! Just WOW!”
@GeorgiAndre
“Certainly my favourite...”
“Finally, someone said all of that! This is rapidly becoming one of the best bass channels on YouTube and certainly my favourite!”
